On the Breeding-grounds of the Rosy Gull. 661 



XXXIX. — The Breeding- grounds of the Bosy Gull. — Part III. 

 By S. A. Buturlin. 



In my former papers (supra, pp. 131, 333) the breeding- 

 habits of the Rosy Gull (Rhodostethia rosea), as observed in 

 the Kolyma delta, were described up to the 10th of July. 

 On the 11th of July I visited one of the colonies near 

 Pokhodskoe. I found on that island some eggs of Sterna 

 paradisea (S. macrura Naum.), a nest, with two incubated 

 eggs, of Colymbus arcticus, and one of Mergus serrator. 

 No Rosy Gulls were to be seen on the lake. 



On the 13th of July I went from Pokhodskoe northward 

 in a boat, and, while passing some islands of the delta, heard 

 the well-known cry of Rhodostethia rosea, but had no time 

 to search for the bird. Several days were passed on one of 

 the northernmost islands of the Kolyma delta (" Kamenny"), 

 where the ground is unfavourable for this species, being a 

 piece of high, rocky tundra. From the 18th to the 20th of 

 July several heavy snowstorms raged, and there was frost at 

 night. In the evening of the 21st of July I was at Ssukharnoe 

 (about 62^° N.), a tiny village on the mainland, near the 

 mouth of the easternmost channel of the Kolyma. The 

 ground there is a high rocky tundra, with mountains rising 

 to 3000 feet, some twelve or fifteen miles off the shore. 

 Near the village a valley (about a mile and a half wide) is 

 formed by a tributary of the Kolyma (the Ssukharnaya), 

 with shallow lakes and swamps. Whilst watching a colonv 

 of Spermophilus through dense clouds of gnats, I heard once 

 or twice the call of Rhodostethia rosea. In the evening of 

 the 22nd I went to the same part of the Ssukharnaya valley, 

 to an islaud on a lake. Here a nest of Phalaropus lobatus 

 was found with four young, some of them fully fledged, 

 though shewing down on the head and neck ; also youn<»- 

 of Tringa maculata and Phalaropus fulicarius. There were 

 likewise colonies of Larus vega and L. glaucescens (?) 

 with young in down, but Kosy Gulls were nowhere to be 

 seen : only some shells of their pretty eggs and a win<>- 

 of a young bird were found near the nest of one of tho.se 

 greedy robbers of the tundra, Larus vega. 



